


Iron Meow

by SleepingReader



Series: Iron Meow - A tale of two kitties [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Chapters with spoilers are shown in the title!, Complete, Disney World & Disneyland, Domestic Avengers, Family, Fanart, Fix-It, Fluff, Gen, Gifts, Happy Ending, I'm ignoring Age of Ultron cause I don't like it., Infinity War Spoilers!!!, Orphans, Presents, Spoilers Infinity War!, Team as Family, The Avengers get fanmail, now with fanart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-03-23 03:20:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 16,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13778577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepingReader/pseuds/SleepingReader
Summary: It’s rather a popular question on a lot of TV shows. ‘How many gifts from fans does an Avenger get in a week?’Or on Buzzfeed: ‘Here’s our favourite Avengers fan art! Number 187 might surprise you!’But all of the Avengers agree: Tony Stark gets the most drawings. Iron Man has become such a large part of the city itself, plus people know exactly where to send them. He collects them after shows, or on the spot. But his favourite gift wasn’t a drawing…





	1. Iron Man

It’s rather a popular question on a lot of TV shows. ‘How many gifts from fans does an Avenger get in a week?’  
Or on Buzzfeed: ‘Here’s our favourite Avengers fan art! Number 187 might surprise you!’

The truth is, no one really knows. Not even the Avengers themselves, who regularly schedule a Fanmail Day, in which they open their letters together. Letters, some of them angry ones. Pieces of art, ranging from children’s scribbles to elaborate paintings. Customised action figures. Stuffed animals.

They’ve seen them all. Clint gets a lot of plush labradors. Sam gets plush birds. (He lines them up on his windowsill and likes to look at them sometimes. Clint likes to shoot the birds.)   
Bruce gets essays about papers he wrote (he reads and answers all of them). Rhodey gets War Machine merchandise sent to him automatically, plus every video people make of him.   
Natasha gets sent books written in Russian (She _loved_ _Garri Potter i filosofskii kamen_ , thank you so much!).  
People send a lot of candy to Thor and Steve, which is usually distributed around the entire compound, though they do taste-test videos together sometimes. Those are always very popular on YouTube.

But all of them agree: Tony Stark gets the most drawings. Iron Man has become such a large part of the city itself, plus people know exactly where to send them. He collects them after shows, or on the spot. But his favourite gift wasn’t a drawing…

——

One day, Tony Stark was leading around a bunch of bright-eyed elementary schoolers around Stark Tower, to make kids enthusiastic about science. Tony rather liked it, even if some of the kids still dragged around their stuffed animals. It was an advance science class, and all of the children were cleverer than he thought they’d be. In the short while they had been there, some of them had already made him question some of his projects. Twice.  
When the tour was done, Tony told the kids that they might see him on the news. ‘I have a mission starting tomorrow, kids. All the way over in Europe. They need my help with something, but it’s super secret.’  
‘Super duper secret?’ One of the kids asked.  
‘Yeah, sure. Super duper secret.’ Tony said.  
The kids nodded. They didn’t ask what it was, cause they didn’t really care. After all, Iron Man would be doing it! What could go wrong?

While the class was shepherded into the school bus, one curly-haired boy stayed behind, frowning a little.  
His teacher looked at him, and then decided to pull away a boy and a girl who had started to hit each other on the head with their lunch boxes instead of doing something about the child.  
Tony turned his attention back to the six-year-old.  
‘Mister Stark, this mission you’re going on. Is it dangerous?’ The boy asked in one of the most serious voices that he had ever heard out of a kid that young.  
‘Could be.’ Tony said, shrugging.  
‘Are… Are you ever scared?’  
‘Me?’  
The boy nodded. In his eyes, Tony recognised something, only he couldn’t place it.  
He would usually lie, responding questions like this. It was important for kids to place their trust in Iron Man, he felt.  
Today, he knelt down, and told the truth.  
‘Yeah. Yeah, kid. I get scared. For the people who get hurt, and for myself too.’  
‘Do you ever get nightmares, Mister Stark?’  
‘Yeah, I do. Do you?’  
The boy nodded.  
‘What are yours about?’ Tony asked.  
The boy mumbled something, but Tony could make it out anyway.  
‘Mom and dad’

Of course he had seen that look before. He saw it in his own eyes when he looked into the mirror.  
‘And do the people that take care of you help you?’ Tony asked. Please let this kid be ok, please.  
‘Yeah!’ The boy said, smiling a gap-toothed grin.  
‘That’s good, kid.’ Tony said, ruffling the kid’s hair. The kid looked up at him, bright-eyed.  
The boy’s teacher came back to pick up the kid.  
‘Mrs. Miller, wait! I have something I gotta give to Mister Stark!’ The boy said, as his teacher tried to take his hand. He took something out of his backpack and put it on Tony’s knee. Kid must have known that Tony didn’t like to be handed things.

It was a small plush kitten wearing an Iron Man suit. While the kitten was probably store-bought, the suit had been sewn on by hand.  
The boy looked up at Tony.  
‘Iron Meow helped me talk about my nightmares. He wants to help you, now.’ He said.  
’Thanks, kid. I feel safer already.’ Tony said. He held out his hand, and the kid shook it, smiling widely at him. Tony smiled back.

 

His teacher took the boy by the hand and thanked Tony graciously for the opportunity. He waved it away, saying it was nothing. Then, she took the kid to the school bus.  
‘Thanks again, Mister Stark!’ The boy called over his shoulder.  
‘No, thank you, Mister…’ Tony started, and then remembered he had never gotten the boy’s name.  
The bus drove away. Tony could only wave.

‘Heh. Iron Meow.’ He muttered to himself, inspecting the soft little cat. It fit entirely in the palm of his hand. Lights had been sewn on inside the paws and chest, so the thrusters and arc reactor glowed blue at the press of a button on the side.  
He didn’t know why he put it on his nightstand that night, but for the first time in a long time, he slept well.

That morning, when she was packing his bags for Europe, Pepper put the plush kitten inside.

 

——

Through the years to come, he found that explaining his latest project to the kitten helped him concentrate. He even told it some nightmares, once or twice. (Mostly when Pepper wanted to sleep. ‘Gnnhgnng…Tony, nooo… Go talk to Iron Meow’)

——

 

‘…and so we’re gonna re-calibrate the arc-reactor thing on the suit to supply the thrusters with energy, so we don’t get repeats from last week. That was shit.’

Mr. Stark seemed to be talking to someone. Peter decided to knock before entering the lab.  
‘Who is it?’  
‘It’s Peter Parker, boss.’ FRIDAY stated.  
‘Hey, kid! Come on in!’ Tony called out.  
Peter looked around at where Mr. Stark was seated. He didn’t see anyone else, but Mr. Stark often talked to DUM-E or FRIDAY while he was working.  
'Hey Mr. Stark! What are you working on?’  
‘Oh, just some parts of the new suit. See, last week one of the thrusters failed cause it didn’t get enough juice from the arc reactor. So now I’m recalibrating the…’ Here Tony stopped, cause Peter had caught sight of something that had been hidden behind an Iron Man gauntlet.

Peter pointed at the object: ‘Hey, wow! I can’t believe you kept Iron Meow!’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iron Meow fanart by the lovely and talented Agito on AO3. You have all my thanks!  
> Check out their Tumblr page, too:  
> agito87.tumblr.com


	2. The Drawing Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's reaction, and a room.

‘What?’ Tony asked, his eyes flitting to the kid in front of him and the stuffed cat he was pointing at.

‘Iron Meow! He used to help me get rid of nightmares…’ Peter said, picking up the small cat.  
‘Uncle Ben used it to talk to me. I never would otherwise…’ he said. ‘And Aunt May found someone to put the lights in. Can’t believe they still work!’ 

‘You were that kid.’ Tony stated. Peter's hair was a little less curly, but he could see the resemblance, actually.  
‘Yeah! You showed us around!’ Peter said happily. ‘And we all made you drawings and stuff, but I never thought you kept anything!’  
‘No, no.. we keep everything…’ Tony said distractedly, taking the small plush from Peter. This kid had given him a lot of help, completely by accident, nine years ago. And now it turns out it was Peter all along. He didn’t know what to do. He was completely out of his depth.  
‘Really? Can I see?’ Peter asked excitedly. Tony was pulled back to the present.  
’Sure… The others keep some stuff in their rooms, but there’s a Wall…’ At least this was something Tony was good at: Showing people around. 

They took the elevator up to the fourth floor, where Tony opened a door.  
Soft yellow light went on, and illuminated the cosy low room. Peter gasped.  
From floor to ceiling, the left wall was plastered in drawings, covered with strong glass. The rest of the room was decorated simply, broken white walls to contrast the brightness of the left one.  
Fleece beanbags lay on the soft carpeted floor in strategic positions. The room was warm, and perfect for relaxation.  
‘Wow…’ Peter said, but couldn’t help wondering if this was all the drawings the Avengers had gotten. As if he read his mind, Tony handed Peter a remote control with a single button, stamped with the Avengers logo. Peter looked to Tony for confirmation, then pressed it. 

A soft _rrrrrr_ sound could be heard as the drawings moved around on the conveyor belt they were stuck on. It went slowly, but surely, and Peter could see the whole gallery of Avengers art. It never seemed to end. 

‘We call it The Drawing Room, because… yeah. Anyway, name an Avenger, kid.’ Tony said softly, looking at Peter’s wonder. 

‘Uhm… Bruce Banner?’ Peter said. The drawing-wall went dark for a bit, as the conveyor belt switched to Hulk art. When it lit up, Peter stepped closer, peering at the drawings. When he pressed the button again, the belt turned, and all the Hulk art slowly moved around. 

‘OK, now Iron Man’ Peter said, smiling at Tony. Tony grinned back as the wall went black once more. The Iron Man wall went on longer, as Tony received the most drawings. Peter sat on a bean bag and looked at the art. The room had been made so even the topmost drawing could be easily seen from the bags.  
Tony looked at the kid, huddled in the bean bag. He suddenly remembered that they sometimes found Natasha in there, curled up on a bean bag, trying to get back from a nightmare and slowly scrolling through all of the Black Widow art. He suspected all of the Avengers had done the same at one point. Tony knew he did. 

Peter started going through the rest of the Avengers and former Avengers, sometimes stopping on a specific piece of art to comment on it. He even found a drawing he himself had made, of Iron Man facing down a large robot. 

When he had gone through all of the Avengers, he settled back in the bean-bag.  
‘Seems kind of worth it, after all…’ he mused.  
‘What?’ Tony said, having sat on a beanbag himself and holding Iron Meow in his hands.  
‘Seems worth it, to be an Avenger. Have people do things like this. Put it on a wall. You know?’ Peter said, rather wistfully.  
‘You didn’t check, did you?’ Tony said, looking over at the kid.  
‘Check what?’ Peter said.  
‘Spider-Man.’ Tony said, and the wall went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHIT. In the first hour of having uploaded this I already had about 4 reactions of people wanting more!


	3. Spider-Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see what happens after the wall went dark.

When it lit up again, Peter could finally see the drawings. Spider-Man flying through the air, Spider-Man swinging from a lamppost, Spider-Man stopping a bus. Spider-Man in the middle of a flip. Spider-Man on the Washington Monument. Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Man… 

‘The button doesn’t work yet, ‘cause people are just starting to notice you, but…’ Tony started, and then looked over at Peter, who seemed to be overcome by emotion.  
Peter walked up to the wall and placed a hand against the glass.  
‘So many…’ he said.  
‘Yeah, kid. They really dig you.’ Tony said, and stood up to look at the art. He clapped Peter on the shoulder.

To his mild surprise, Peter put another hand on the glass. And then a foot. Then he climbed up the wall to look at the art in the far corners. Spider-Man indeed.  
When he came down, Tony pretended not to see anything while Peter pretended not to cry. 

‘So, yeah. There’s some pre-sorted packages still waiting for you, but that’s for…’  
Tony started, then remembered that there probably wouldn’t be more Fanmail Days. He had been putting off admitting it, in fleeting hope that his friends would return.  
‘For another time. Okay.’ Peter said. ‘Hey, Mr. Stark?’  
‘Tony. Call me Tony.’ Kid had earned it.  
‘Tony?’ Peter said  
‘Yeah.’  
‘Did he help? Iron Meow? With the nightmares?’ Peter asked, almost childlike. Suddenly, Tony was reminded of that curly-haired six-year-old that asked him if he ever felt scared.  
On impulse, Tony reached out to the boy and hugged him.  
Peter was shocked for a moment, then hugged Tony back. Tony squeezed a little tighter, and Peter was reminded of his father’s hugs. Of Uncle Ben’s hugs. Peter squeezed a little, too, and laid his head on Tony’s shoulder. Tony smelled of aftershave, and of the engine grease that would never get out of his pores, no matter how hard he scrubbed.  
‘Yeah’ A rough voice said near Peter’s ear. Peter heard Tony clear his throat. ‘Yeah.’ he said. ‘He helped a lot.’  
‘Good.’ Peter said. 

They broke apart. Tony handed Iron Meow wordlessly to Peter, raised his eyebrows and held up his phone for a photo. Peter held the plush up to his face, smiled, and did a thumbs-up. They watched as the photo was automatically uploaded to Iron Man’s Wall, right in the middle. 

——

It took a long while to make a treaty that was suitable for everyone, but in the end, it was more than worth it.  
When the rest of the Avengers finally came home, they all found their way eventually to the Drawing Room. For all of them, it served as a reminder.  
A reminder of who they fought for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fanmail Day is restored the first day the Avengers come home.  
> Bucky gets a Wall, too. 
> 
>  
> 
> The End.


	4. Fanmail Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of an epilogue as to How It Could Be.  
> Fanmail Day is reinstated as the Avengers come home.  
> Even Bucky gets parcels!

After various greetings and friendly banter, the Avengers once again settled on the comfy bean bags in the Drawing Room. Peter sat between Tony and Clint, who seemed to be having trouble staying on his bean bag.

The lift bringing up the post bags _ding_ -ed, and the slide next to the Drawing Wall opened. Steve and Bruce passed out the large mailbags. There were a lot this time, since Fanmail Day had been stopped while they were having their ‘little problem'.

When everyone had their bags, Tony asked FRIDAY to ‘count down and roll the dice’.  
The Avengers chanted the numbers as they appeared on the glass of the Drawing Room Wall.

‘3…2…1… Aaaaw,’ Most of them said as Clint’s icon came up first. Clint instead cheered and punched the air.  
He opened his postal bag and threw each Avenger something that in it. Most of them caught it, but he threw Steve’s so far that the soldier had to stand up and get it.

‘Ok… GO!’ he said, and all of the Avengers started tearing at their parcel. Clint opened his first, which contained a drawing of him with a guide dog - a Labrador. He put it in the chute for the Wall after saying ‘Aaaaw!’ and holding it up for everyone to see.  
Peter was reminded of the way kids behave at birthday parties. Opening a present, and then showing it to their parents.  
‘Ooh, another Labrador!’ Natasha said, holding up another drawing.  
‘Here, too!’ Said Sam, tossing the stuffed animal at Clint.  
‘This lady wishes to be your wife’ Thor said, reading the letter. ‘She even included a picture!’ He held up the picture for everyone to see.  
‘Here’s one that says you shoot like shit.’ Steve said, then shot a quick glance at Peter, who just laughed along with the rest. Steve got a new parcel instead of the hate mail. The new parcel contained a painting.  
‘This is from a Hard of Hearing boy that’s happy to have a deaf Avenger on the team.’ Tony said, reading the letter.  
‘What?’ Clint asked, putting his hand to his ear.  
‘I said- This is from a… oh you asshole’ he said, seeing the look on Clint’s face. They did this joke all the time, and Tony always fell for it.

‘A superhero mask here, to protect your identity, says Clide, 7 years old’ Bruce said, handing the mask to Clint.  
‘I’m gonna reply to that kid.’ Clint said, and the envelope containing the letter was put on the _RePile_.

(The name was a portmanteau for ’Reply Pile,’ but Steve struggled over the words once and ‘RePile’ stuck, Tony had explained to Peter as he told Peter about Fanmail day. )

‘A drawing of what seems to be a potato?’ Bucky said and showed it. It did look like a potato, with arrows and a quiver. Clint grinned at it. ‘That’s going on my own wall’ he said happily.  
‘And another Labrador.’ Peter said, holding up the large plush. ‘Why Labradors?’ He asked.  
Clint shrugged. ‘I told a kid I liked Labradors once in an interview.’

——

When all Clint’s packages were done, the group moved on to the next Avenger. It was Bruce.  
‘An essay about micro receptors in the human body!’ Bruce said enthusiastically.  
‘Essay’ Clint said, showing the letter.  
‘Essay’ Natasha said.  
‘Essay’ said Steve.  
‘Someone’s favourite… book?’ Thor said. ‘Oh, no wait. It’s a book they wrote about you!’ He said, and handed it to Bruce. The book was called ‘Hulking Out, How Science Makes Us Awesome’. Bruce smiled at the title. The author was a woman that had written to him a lot in the past.

‘Another essay,’ Sam stated, putting the essay automatically on the _RePile_ with the rest. Bruce answered everything.  
‘Hey, these are fun.’ Tony said, holding up Hulk gloves. Bruce took them and put them on, waving them around a little and going “Raaaah”. Peter and Tony laughed.  
‘This person… No. Not even gonna read it,’ Bucky said, and threw the letter in the garbage. ‘Too much bad spelling.’ He added with a slight shrug.  
‘An essay on… space, and how it reflects on our personality…’ Peter said. Bruce hummed interestedly, and took the essay from him.

——

The next person was Thor, and everyone got excited, because this meant candy.  
‘Homemade... what was the word? You know, tomte!’ The Asgardian called, and handed out the tin.  
‘Brownies.’ Bucky replied, picking a brownie. ‘What?’ He said, as he saw everyone staring at him. ‘I like mythology.’ ‘Pop-tarts from Japan!’ Peter said, changing the subject and showing everyone the box. ‘Whoa. Cinnamon-applepie-icecream-cherry-creme-brulee!’ He read between bites of brownie. ‘Do they even make that here?’

‘I sure would love to have some of these… stroopwafels, from the Netherlands’ Tony said, struggling on the foreign word.  
‘Of course! Have one!’ Thor called out, in what Tony always called his ‘Gracious King Voice’. Tony dug in. He wordlessly handed one to Natasha, who sat next to him.  
Natasha showed Thor a drawing of him astride a giant horse. Thor laughed and said it reminded him of his father’s steed.

’Here’s a model of your hammer.’ Bucky said, showing Thor the little clay statue. ‘It’s cute’ he added, balancing it on his metal palm. Thor carefully took it and inspected it.  
‘Very lifelike, too. I shall reply to them!’ He decided, and the letter went onto the _RePile_.  
‘More candy, this time Finnish and... Norse.’ Bruce said, tossing the bag to Thor, who chuckled at the picture on the front.  
‘And… Okay, this is a bra.’ Sam said, holding up the thin fabric. They all laughed, and Tony snuck the bra onto the _RePile_.  
‘And last but not least:’ Steve began. ‘A picture box made by Emma from California, showing you fighting a lot of monsters.’ He said, holding the box up to the light. ‘Actually, this is really good.’ He said, passing the box to Thor.  
‘A true artist!’ Thor declared and the box went on to the _RePile_.

——

Bucky was surprised to see that he had gotten a small pile of gifts as well. One of them showed him and Captain America sharing a fist-bump on the edge of a cliff. He smiled at that one a long time. He, too, received candy, making him more popular with the rest of the Avengers, because he immediately started sharing it. Clint boasted of his skills of catching candy in his mouth, and he and Bucky shared a short game in which Bucky threw one of the sweets with his metal hand and Clint fell off his bean-bag trying to catch it.

——

The rest of the Avengers post was more of the regular stuff. Lots of drawings for Tony, more candy for Steve (including a bag of Doritos that Tony laughed about) and a very nice hand-carved falcon for Sam. Natasha got…  
‘An ax.’ She said, holding it up. ‘That’s really cool.’ she added, smiling and swinging it around. Sam ducked out of the way.

——

Then it was Peter’s turn, and everyone cheered. It was Peter’s first time, after all.  
‘A.. Wow! A drawing from Bran from Queens, with Spider-Man climbing the Eiffel Tower. Ha! I wish!’ He said, placing the drawing into the Wall Chute and placing the envelope and letter on his _RePile_.

‘A little comic from Michigan, showing you adjusting to life with the Avengers.’ Steve said, chuckling. In the comic, Nick Fury could be seen holding all of the Avengers on child-leashes. Spider-Man sat on the ceiling. They all laughed at the way the artist had depicted Fury’s face. ‘He really looks like that!’ Clint said, rolling off his bean bag, trying to catch another wine-gum Bucky threw at him.

‘Another drawing, of you summoning an army of spiders!’ Thor called, then added: ‘Can you do that?’ Peter shook his head and Thor looked crestfallen.  
‘Shame. I rather like spiders.’ He said, ruffling Peter’s and Natasha’s hair, laughing boisterously.  
Natasha swatted at Thor, much like a cat would, then showed the gift she had opened to Peter. It was a box full of candy, with a note ‘Thank You, Spiderman’ attached to it. It came from Peter’s own school.  
‘Hey, I heard about that! They all chipped in! This is really cool!’ He said, grinning when he saw the autographs of Liz, MJ, Ned (followed with a little winky-face) and, with a slight shock, Flash. He passed the candy out to the rest, and a quick marshmallow-throwing war broke out. It ended as quickly as it began and they continued.

Bucky’s envelope produced some more drawings. Peter put them into the Wall Chute and then put all of the previous envelopes on the _RePile_. He had decided he was going to answer all of them.  
Sam’s envelope came with a stick-figure, made to resemble Spider-Man. Clint’s box was full of confetti, which he promptly dumped on Peter’s head.  
‘Why did they send me confetti?’ Peter asked, spitting out some brightly coloured flakes.  
‘Why did they send Thor a bra?’ Tony retorted, and everyone burst out laughing.

‘Only one last one, I’m afraid, kid.’ Tony said. ‘But this guy says he’s ‘your biggest fan’.’ He added, handing Peter the package inside the envelope. The others cooed and said that, no, obviously _they_ were Peter’s biggest fans.  
Peter unwrapped the small packet, and…

And looked up to Tony with bright eyes.

The note read:  
_’Iron Meow still helps me. Spider-Meow would like to help you. From your biggest fan.’_

 

Peter uncovered the fluffy little plush cat in Spider-Man suit. He felt its soft little ears. Its paws… Something funny about those paws…  
‘Hey! That looks just like Iron Meow!’ Bruce said, interrupting Peter’s thoughts and looking at Tony for confirmation.  
‘Yeah, he does. Funny, right? Oh, by the way, Pete. I forgot to mention. Spider-Meow can stick to any surface, just like you.’ Tony said.  
Peter tried. It stuck to the underside of his hand with no problem.  
Natasha was the first to put it all together.  
‘Wait…’ she started. ‘No way.’  
‘Way.’ Tony said, grinning at her. ‘Peter was the kid who gave me Iron Meow.’

It was as if the room exploded. Cheers and stories bursted out of every Avenger.  
’He never left Stark Tower without Iron Meow!’  
‘I saw him put it _inside_ his _helmet_ once!’  
‘I swear he had it in his pocket for about a week after that whole nuclear thing!’  
‘He likes to hold it when we are watching movies!’  
‘What the hell is an Iron Meow?’ (That was Bucky, who was quickly updated by Steve)  
‘Yeah, I saw him claiming to be ‘operating’ on it once! He was just changing the batteries!  
’Good on you, Peter!’

All of them had seen Tony talk to Iron Meow once in a while. Bruce had even walked in on him while Tony had been carefully replacing the batteries on the plush kitten with a small pair of tweezers and a heart monitor.  
Peter’s back was clapped, his hair was ruffled.

Tony was asked why Clint didn’t have a Hawk-mew. Natasha claimed jokingly that she really needed a Black Meowdo. ‘For the nightmares, Tony! For the nightmares!’  
‘Hey! Hey! You give me a gift that I use for nine years and we’ll see!’ Tony yelled back at them playfully.

Peter looked down at the little kitten, and was caught glancing at it for the remainder of the night. When the rest of the Avengers had all gone to bed, starting with Bucky, who ‘needed way more sleep these days’, Peter sat alone with Spider-Meow. He clambered up to the ceiling, to see if the plush would stick. It did. They hung upside-down together, looking at the Wall scroll gently beneath.  
Tony found him there, upside down.

‘Aa!’ Tony said, startled.  
‘Sorry Tony!’ Peter called from the ceiling, and dropped down, taking the plush with him.  
‘Thought the room got reversed or something…’ Tony murmured, rubbing his eyes. It had been a long day.  
‘No. Well, I could do it, probably. Put the bean bags on the ceiling with my web formula and..’ Peter started rambling. Tony cut him off.  
‘Good idea, kid. But not today. Wanna hit the sack?’ he said.  
‘Yeah. I’m kind of tired… but….’ Peter started. He didn’t really want to go home yet.  
‘You don’t want to go home.’ Tony guessed. Peter nodded.  
‘Well, there’s a room for you here, if you like.’ Tony said. ‘Just text your aunt May that you’ll be staying over. Doubt that she’ll mind.’ He added.  
‘No she won’t, she had a double shift tonight… Wait, did you say ‘room’?’ Peter said. Tony grinned at him.  
‘Sure kid, where else would you put all your presents?’

Peter was led to his own room in the Compound.  
‘Figured you’d like the view.’ Tony said. And he was right. The room looked out onto a large lake, surrounded by forests. Peter was surprised to see some drawings framed on to the wall.  
‘These were actually the first that came in. Thought ‘that’s kind of cool’,’ Tony said. Peter looked around. This room was larger than his own. It was even larger than his own, with the living room in May’s apartment added!  
Tony opened a door to the en-suite bathroom, fully equipped with shower and bath.  
‘So. Yeah. It’s not decorated all that much yet. Figured you’d like to do it yourself, but it’s-‘ Tony started, and Peter cut him off by throwing his arms around him in a hug.  
‘I love it, Tony. Thank you.’ He said simply.  
Tony hugged him back, awkwardly at first. He was never much of a hugger, but he found that hugging Peter could only be described as hugging… as… well. As hugging a son.  
‘No, Peter. Thank _you_ ’ he said into the boy’s ear.

Aunt May was texted, and Peter found a pair of soft pyjamas waiting for him after he showered. He laughed a little when he saw a little Spider-Man logo on the breast pocket. He wondered if Thor or Steve had their own logo. (They did.)

He got into the soft bed, and saw that Spider-Meow had been put on his nightstand. Peter turned off the lights, and noticed that the cat’s eyes glowed slightly in the dark. He smiled at the plush kitten and held it for a while.

As Peter drifted off to sleep, still clutching Spider-Meow, he thought about how cool it would be to have Tony Stark for a father.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Great Scott, everyone! This was quite the ride!  
> I can't believe I got this many kudos on a fic I didn't even really like at the beginning and I really hope you like this one last chapter. 
> 
> The rules of Fanmail Day are really simple: The one whose icon comes up first, is the first to open their bag.  
> That person hands out a parcel from their open bag to everyone present, and they go around the room commenting on the gifts.  
> When the bag is empty, the dice are rolled again. 
> 
>  
> 
> If you have requests concerning these characters, please don't hesitate to send them!  
> My tumblr is sleepingreader.tumblr.com, and I'd love to hear from you!
> 
> Spider-Meow art by the awesome Agito:  
> agito87.tumblr.com


	5. Spring Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring Break! Tony gets some new interns, a kid to look after for the week and a pleasant surprise.

‘Oh, you want me to do a flip, Mr. Interviewer? Here’s a flip!’  
Tony Stark heard a slight bump as his favourite intern probably did a perfect flip. Peter seemed to be talking to someone in his room. His Aunt May (who was definitely not hot) was on some nurse Comic Con (or whatever), and Tony had promised to look after Peter for a week.

When he had picked Peter up from school at the start of spring break, he had met Peter’s ‘Guy in the Chair’ Ned. Ned was a ball of enthusiastic energy, and Tony immediately liked him. It would be hard not to. It would be like not liking puppies.  
Peter’s other friend, Michelle - MJ, he remembered, was a sarcastic little shit. Tony liked her even more. And when Tony Stark likes someone… Both MJ and Ned had gotten an internship at Stark Industries that day.  
Tony’s idea of having interns was a little rusty. He had put MJ and Ned into a lab and told them to ‘Have Fun’.

Ned turned out to be every bit the genius Peter claimed he was, and had hacked into the Stark Compound mainframe in the space of three hours. All of the screens now showed the Spider-Man logo. Tony thought it was awesome.  
But MJ was even a bigger surprise. When he had heard music come from the lab, he had gone down to investigate to witness all of his suits in a row. All of them dancing to Womanizer. At the head of their little dance troupe was MJ, who had somehow managed to make a complete motion-control suit out of a couple of ping-pong balls, a handful of camera’s, and two Wii-remotes.  
Tony had offered them both careers at Stark Industries on the spot. Ned agreed immediately, while MJ mentioned something about careers in Wakanda. Tony hoped he never would have to witness the combined genius of the Princess of Wakanda and Michelle Jones together. OK, he did. He was taking all of his interns on a business trip there next month. (Totally not for that reason, not at all, why would you think that, Pepper?)   
While Peter practised being Spider-Man, and Ned and MJ worked, the three kids made the compound a lot more fun.

Since it was spring break, Peter was free for the week to be Spider-Man as much as he pleased. Ned had continued to be Peter’s ‘Guy In The Chair’. Because of this, Tony worried a lot less about the kid, especially now Peter had taken up training with the Avengers.  
Steve instructed him on hand-to-hand combat, the way Peggy Carter had instructed Steve. Bucky and Clint helped him aim his webs better, with and without suit. Sam had given him parachute-and-gliding tips. Even Tony had been chipping in, teaching the kid the basics of Wing Chun. Peter drank it all it without question, and his fighting style improved every day.  
Tony wished it could stay like this forever. Him, Peter and all of their friends.

‘Yeah, Mr. Interviewer-guy! I’m Spider-Man! What are you gonna do about it? I’m gonna…’ Tony was snapped out of his flashback. Peter’s voice came from the other room. ‘Are you talking to me? Are you talking to me, Mr. Interviewer? I’m the only one here…’  
The door to Peter’s room was open slightly, so Tony simply strolled in. He saw Peter hanging from the ceiling, talking to something opposite him. Tony chuckled when he realised it was Spider-Meow that Peter was threatening.

‘Nice work kid, I’m sure ‘Mr. Interviewer-guy’ has learned his lesson.’ He said. Peter jumped and looked at Tony upside-down.  
‘Tony!’ he greeted, quickly grabbing Spider-Meow and trying to hide the little stuffed animal behind his back. ‘Hi! I was just- No wait I was…- I was just… Hey, why are you upside-down?’ Peter asked him, confused.  
‘I’m not the one upside-down, kid.’ Tony said. Peter got a slightly lost look in his eyes, then shook his head and came down to the floor.  
‘Sorry, Tony. Gravity is… off sometimes.’ He said. Tony nodded slightly. He had seen Peter nap on the ceiling multiple times. Being upside down didn’t seem to bother the kid in the slightest.  
‘So what was with the interviewing?’ Tony asked lightly.  
Peter mumbled something.  
‘Look kid, if you can’t tell me, I’m gonna make you talk to Spider-Meow.’ Tony threatened jokingly. Peter laughed.  
‘I… I was thinking that it’d be nice to be an Avenger. I’ve even talked to Aunt May about it. She… wasn’t pleased, but she told me that she’d be a lot more happy if Captain America and Thor had my back, too. Not that you don’t do a good job, she just..’ Peter started, but Tony cut him off.  
‘You wanna become an Avenger. And you’ve been practising your interview.’ He said softly.  
‘…Yeah. I mean if you guys don’t want me to be an Avenger I’d totally…’ Peter started. Tony cut him off again by giving him a hug.  
‘You’re already one of us, Pete.’ He said, slapping the boy’s back. ‘I’ll get that press conference ready, though. It’s time.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly thought I was finished with this. 
> 
> Guess not. 
> 
> First of all: Thanks to all of you who left kudos and comments! Because of you guys, this fic is the most Kudos'ed fic in my entire list!  
> That's AWESOME! And I love all of you! 
> 
> Thanks to AnotherAoife, who said: 'Request: INTERVIEWS OML I WOULD PAY FOR A FIC OF SPIDER-MAN BEING INTERVIEWEDED'  
> Interview will be in the next chapter! (prepare your wallet) (No I'm kidding) (Or am I?) (I'm kidding. ;) ) 
> 
> If you want to yell at me or throw me more prompts, come talk to me on Tumblr!
> 
> sleepingreader.tumblr.com


	6. Press Conference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a press conference, and Spider-Man gives an interview.

Peter sat on the ceiling, in his Spider-Man suit, while Tony addressed the crowd at the press conference. Peter felt his nerves rise. _Come on, Peter. Come on, Spider-Man. You can do this. Just like presentation day at school._ he thought to himself, butterflies in his stomach. He decided to focus on Tony’s relaxed, playful tones. He was surprised to find that it helped a little. 

‘Good morning ladies and gentlemen! Oh, and hey Ashton, good to see you.’ Tony said, nodding at a reporter in the front row. The reporter called Ashton smiled happily. They were always put on Avengers duty, and they wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.  
‘I bet you’re all wondering why I’ve brought you here today.’ Tony said, rubbing his hands together.  
The reporters murmured softly to themselves. Of course they were.  
‘I’m not gonna beat around the bush, since we only have half an hour. I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of our team. We aren’t gonna tell you his secret identity, cause we don’t wanna. Anyway, without further ado, here’s Spider-Man!’  
Tony clapped with the audience as Spider-Man flipped onto the stage from the ceiling. He had been allowed to keep his secret identity, SHIELD promising not to tell anyone until Peter was 21.  
‘Hi’ Peter said lamely, waving shyly at the reporters. Cameras flashed.  
Karen quickly turned on ‘sunglasses mode’, helping Peter protect his eyes. 

‘Right.’ Tony said, moving across the stage and clapping Spider-Man on the shoulder. ‘Spider-Man will be taking questions now.’ He put a microphone into Spider-Man trembling hand. Then Tony sat down on the edge of the platform to help with the questions. Tony kept his body language as relaxed as possible, to make sure Peter was comfortable. He had even brought candy, cause everyone that ate candy while doing an interview was really relaxed, right?  
‘Right. You at the back. With the hair. Yeah. You.’ Tony started, putting a winegum into his mouth.

‘Thanks for all that you’ve done so far, Spider-Man! The readers of the Daily Bugle would like to know why you fight crime?’  
Inside his suit, Peter sighed in relief. This was an easy question. He and Tony had practised for this.  
‘Because if you can do what I can do, it’d be bad not to do it, ya know?’ He stated. More camera flashes. The reporter nodded happily. More pens went up. Tony pointed one out. 

_This is easy!_ Peter thought to himself. _Spider-Man should do all of my presentations!_

‘Spider-Man, why did you choose to be an Avenger now? Why not, say, half a year ago?’ The reporter asked.  
‘Cause being an Avenger is a huge responsibility. And I wasn’t ready then.’  
‘Are you ready now?’ The reporter asked. Peter looked her dead in the eye.  
‘I am.’ He said, at the same time Tony said:  
‘He is.’ 

More pens went up. Tony chose Ashton, the reporter he had greeted earlier.  
‘Spider-Man, did you sign the Sokovia Accords, which were the source of all trouble some time ago?’ Ashton asked.  
‘Yeah, I did,’ Peter said. ‘As well as the rest of the Avengers, though I signed later.’ Spider-Man said. ‘I remember it as if it was yesterday…’ He mused.  
‘It was yesterday.’ Tony cut in. That got a laugh.  
Ashton nodded. ‘That’s a mood.’ they murmured. ‘Thank you.’ 

Peter chose a reporter this time, a tiny guy on the last row.  
‘Spider-Man, you sound so young. How old are-‘ the reporter started, but before he could finish, Tony had thrown a piece of candy across the room at the reporter.  
‘Hey! No asking Spidey about his secret identity!’ Tony said teasingly, but there was something serious in his eyes. The reporter backed down. 

The rest of the interview went smoothly. One or two reporters asked Spider-Man about his personal life, but they all got cheerfully pelted with candy. Tony saw to that.  
After twenty minutes, Tony brought in some Avengers: Steve, Natasha and Sam. (Bucky stayed at the Compound for the day, not being a fan of bright lights, people or being looked at in general)  
‘Miss Romanov, what do you think of having this new addition to the Avengers?’ A blond reporter asked.  
‘I’m happy to have another spider with us.’ Natasha said, ‘We’re hard to get rid of.’ She smiled slightly. Some new reporters got slightly scared.  
‘Mr. Wilson? Any thoughts?’ A new reporter asked Sam.  
‘Yeah. Spider-Man is cool. It will be good to have another guy giving back-up on the ground. Plus, this guy can climb walls! That’s cool.’ Sam said.  
‘Mr. Rogers?’  
‘I’ve met Spider-Man before, on the airport in Germany. If there’s anyone that can steal my shield like that, they deserve to be in the Avengers.’ Steve told the reporter, flashing Spider-Man a grin when he ended.  
‘He stole your shield?’ The reporter asked.  
‘He did. And it was _awesome_ ’ Tony interrupted.  
‘I take that you’re all for Spider-Man, Mr. Stark?’  
‘Yes.’ Tony said simply. He casually opened his jacket to show his Spider-Man t-shirt. The arc reactor shone through, making it seem as if the spider was hanging from it.  
Inside his suit, Peter blushed.

’One last question.’ Tony stated.  
‘Yes. This is my question to all of you. Do you think the other Avengers approve of Spider-Man, seeing as they’re not all here?’  
In response, Captain America pressed a button held in his palm and a film started on the screen behind them. The Avengers all turned around to watch. 

A familiar face appeared on screen.  
‘My name is King T’Challa, son of King T’Chaka, also known as the Black Panther, and I fully endorse the addition of Spider-Man to the ranks of the Avengers.’ He said in his accented voice. Then T’Challa disappeared from view and shouted something to someone in Xhosa. A young girl that looked a lot like T’Challa suddenly appeared on camera to give the audience a grin and a thumbs-up. She started to say something, but the camera was ripped from her hands. In the next shot, she was shown arguing and trying to take the camera back from her brother, who held it up high. The picture went black.  
‘If the King of Wakanda and his little sister both approve of Spider-Man, I’m sure all of the other Avengers will, too.’ Steve spoke cheerfully into the microphone. Sam, sitting next to him, nodded and grinned. 

‘Well, that’s all for today, folks!’ Tony said. The Avengers started to leave. Spider-Man shot a web to the ceiling and went through the door upside-down. Some reporters, including Ashton, murmured appreciatively.  
Then, the reporters started to pack their things. They came up to quickly shake hands with Tony. Quite a lot of them gave him rolled up pieces of paper. Tony thanked them all for coming. 

When Peter was done changing his clothes, he went downstairs where he met the rest of the team in the Drawing Room. Tony handed him a milkshake. He drank it gratefully.  
‘You did good, kid.’ Tony said, clapping Peter on the shoulder and making him choke on his milkshake. ‘Were you nervous?’  
Peter coughed slightly and wiped milkshake from his lip. ‘At first, yeah. And then…’  
‘Was it the candy?’ Tony asked hopefully. ‘Or-or the shirt?’  
‘It was definitely the shirt.’ Peter said, smiling and giving Tony a quick hug. ‘Hey, what were all those pieces of paper the reporters gave you?’  
‘See for yourself, kid.’ Tony said, gesturing at the Spider-Man wall.  
There were dozens of new drawings.  
Tony pressed the button, and Peter could see the wall begin to move. There were enough drawings now.  
‘We’re going to need to do another Fanmail day, soon, if this keeps continuing.’ Tony said.  
‘I can’t help it!’ Peter said. ‘I’m just the best Avenger!’ He then walked over to Steve, Sam and Natasha, to thank them for their kind words. 

Tony watched him go.  
‘Yeah, kid. You are the best Avenger.’ he muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to AnotherAoife for the idea of having Peter do an interview. I think that he thinks he's waaaay cooler when he's Spider-Man.
> 
> This fic has SO MANY KUDOS! Ok, ok, if we get this show up to 400 kudos, I'm gonna either:  
> -Have Peter call Tony 'Dad'  
> -Do a Christmas chapter. (Featuring Natasha decorating the tree, Bucky giving a 'hand', Peter climbing said tree.)  
> -Do a carnival/theme park chapter. (Featuring: Bucky on a merry-go-round. Peter on Splash Mountain. Tony and Steve clutching each other in the haunted house.)  
> -Do a chapter with shitty camping (featuring Iron Meow being used as a flashlight)  
> -Take even more requests. IDK. I really really want 400 kudos :D 
> 
> Tell me what you'd like to see!


	7. Disneyland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A 400 Kudos fanfic! Tony takes the team to Disneyland, and Peter has a minor slip-up during lunch.

All was quiet and calm inside the compound. Most of the Avengers slept soundly: Steve and Bucky both snoring softly in adjacent rooms. Bruce, who was always up earliest, quietly read an essay. Clint was sprawled over on top of his sheets, wearing nothing but underpants. Across his room, Natasha curled up into a little ball, muttering softly in Russian. Peter, MJ and Ned slept in the same room, slumped against Peter’s sofa while Star Wars played on a low volume. MJ’s head rested on Peter’s shoulder, while Peter was holding Spider-Meow loosely in his hands. Ned was slowly sliding from the couch to the floor, while having a very weird dream. 

And then, a soft fanfare sounded from all speakers. 

For a couple of seconds, nothing happened. Steve slept on. Bucky hugged his pillow a little tighter. Bruce turned a page. Clint shook an arm that had fallen asleep. Natasha murmured ‘прыгающие мыши’ in her sleep. Peter gently smiled. Ned frowned. His dream was getting weirder.

Then the volume of the fanfare was suddenly turned up from ‘Gentle wake-up call’ to ‘air-raid alarm’.  
All hell broke loose. Steve sat straight up in bed. Bucky tore his pillow in half. Bruce dropped his essay and grabbed his head as the Hulk threatened to take over. Clint fell off his bed. Natasha stood up straight before she even knew it, gun in her hand and looking around for an enemy. Peter jolted so hard that he threw off MJ, who landed on Ned with an _oof_.  
.  
Before any of them could realise or complain about what had happened, the fanfare had changed into a somewhat recognisable tune. The three sleepy teenagers looked at each other, wondering how they knew it.  
‘Do-do-do-dooo do…’ Ned murmured. “Do-do-do do dooo…’  
‘Do-do-do, do do do, do-do do, do-do-do…’ Peter hummed back.  
‘…it’s a small world after all…’ MJ finished before she even knew it.  
‘Aaaand the interns win the front seat!’ Tony Stark’s voice rang through the compound. All around, the Avengers groaned. Tony was messing with them again.  
Steve slumped back down. Bucky spit out some feathers. Bruce breathed deeply, chasing the Hulk away. Clint blearily found some trousers on the floor. Natasha stuffed her gun back under her pillow.  
Peter, MJ and Ned were a little more awake.  
‘Tony?’ Peter asked the speaker. ‘Whass happening?’  
‘Come on! Let’s go!’ The speaker said. 

‘Go where?’ Steve asked it, rolling over in bed. The speaker sighed.  
‘Go where, Tony?!’ Steve yelled at it.  
The speaker started playing ‘Bare Necessities’. Bucky plucked some feathers out of his hair. Steve put the pillow over his head. MJ grabbed a bag of Dorito’s.  
FRIDAY informed Tony that none of the inhabitants made any effort to get up.  
‘How are you all not getting this? I couldn’t possibly be making this any clearer. Pack swimwear.’  
‘Ugh. Tony. Unless you’re getting us all to Disney World, can you stop playing ‘Be A Man?’ Clint asked, taking his trousers off again and laying back onto the soft sheets.  
‘ _Finally._ Now, get up!’ The speaker replied. ‘And it’s not Disney World. It’s Disneyland.’ He added as an afterthought.  
Clint opened one eye. Peter’s face lit up a second before Ned’s and MJ’s did. 

As he flew them to Paris, Tony told them that he had rented the entire park for three days. SHIELD employees had been invited, as long as they didn’t crowd the roller coasters.  
‘But why Paris?’ Steve asked. ‘Florida is right _there_ '. He pointed to the window.  
‘My favourite ride is closed in Florida. Next question.’  
After the short flight to France, Tony ended up in the car with Peter, Bruce, MJ and Ned. He called them ‘The Science Squad’.  
Natasha drove another containing herself, Bucky, Clint and Steve. She called her group ‘The Fossil Mutant Ninja Humans’, though none of her passengers seemed to get the joke. 

Clint had gotten Natasha lost, so Tony’s Science Squad got there first. 

They were greeted at the front gates by a grinning black teenager with braided hair like Princess Leia, who introduced herself as ‘The Wakandan Delegation.’  
‘My brother will be joining us on the last day, he has to do some boring king stuff first.’ She told Tony. 

‘Shuri!’ He said enthusiastically. Then he recollected himself. ‘Princess.’ He said, bowing slightly,  
‘Tony,’ she said, grinning and shoving him playfully. The two shook hands. ‘We need to visit each others labs again.’ She suggested. ‘I have some cool new stuff and I’d like to see what you’ve been working on.’  
Tony nodded. ‘We should! This girl has done more than I can ever do. Ever.’ He told the teens, pointing at Shuri. Shuri blushed a little. 

Tony and Shuri had met right after Wakanda had opened itself for the world. Tony had gotten a Visa specifically for her. So Shuri had shown Tony Stark around her lab. Tony had asked questions throughout. She knew he was supposedly the cleverest person in the world. She also knew that she was cleverer.  
When the tour ended, she expected him to dismiss her. To her immense surprise, he had taken his sunglasses off, and looked her right in the eye. A slow grin spread across his face.  
‘I’ve never said these words before in my life, but can you explain again, only slower?’  
So she had. She had also given him access to some pieces of vibranium, which he had begged for, to ‘strengthen someone’s suit’. Shuri long suspected Tony had used the vibranium to make Spider-Man’s suit stronger. And when she saw Tony looking at Peter, she was sure of it. 

‘Surely! Bring your interns!’ She said, grinning at her own joke. She and shook hands with all of them. It turned out she already followed MJ’s blog. ‘I like your drawings!’ Shuri told her. MJ was slowly getting famous for her ‘People In Distress’ drawings.  
MJ grinned at her.  
Peter turned around at the sound of footsteps. Natasha had parked the car, and the four remaining Avengers were walking toward the entrance. Then, Clint decided it was going too slow, and had broken into a run.  
That turned into world’s fastest running match. Natasha was quick, but the two super-soldiers were faster. Steve quickly overtook them, but was slowed down by Bucky, who grabbed onto his hoodie, launching himself forward. Calls of ‘CHEATER!’ were heard across the walk-up to the gate.  
Needless to say, Bucky got there first, enveloping Shuri in a bear hug. He lifted her up and shook her a few times. She laughed. Steve ran up to them.  
‘Good to see you again, White Wolf.’ Shuri told Bucky when he put her down. The two had become good friends during Bucky’s time in Wakanda. ‘How’s the arm?’ She asked.  
He showed it to her, flexing his fingers. She nodded approvingly.  
‘Stark’s taken good care of it.’ She said. Tony almost blushed.  
Natasha ran up to them, and lastly, a panting Clint. Natasha may or may not have tackled him on her way to third place.  
‘What are… we waiting for?’ Clint panted, his hand against the stitch in his side.  
‘You!’ Shuri said, and led the way into the Magic Kingdom, dragging Bucky by the (metal) arm. 

 

There was a brief discussion about which ride they should do first, but since the majority of the Avengers had never even been to a theme park (Apart from Clint, Tony, MJ and Ned) they decided on the merry-go-round first.  
Tony nearly lost it when he saw a very confused Bucky on the merry-go-round. The man looked so incredibly out of place with his murder-stare and his metal arm, going round in circles on a wooden horse. Shuri laughed out loud at Steve, who somehow never managed to stay on his horse. He kept turning around to check on Bucky and almost fell off a couple of times. 

 

‘No, that’s probably not the best idea…’ Bruce said when Ned and Tony tried to get him to go into the brand-new Hotel Scaryfornia (Not for the faint of heart or under 14.).  
‘I’ll… Keep you company.’ Bucky said to Bruce. He had taken a look at the ‘warning’ sign, and after a short discussion with Shuri, he had decided that to stay outside was the best option.  
Both he and Bruce wisely stayed outside to enjoy a candy apple, while the rest queued up for the Hotel.  
That had been a good idea. Natasha completely accidentally attacked one of the chainsaw-wielding scare-actors at the first turn and had to go outside as well. She apologised profusely to the scare-actor who brought her outside, but he waved her off.  
‘Are you kidding? That was AWESOME!’ The actor said to her, but did allow her to buy him a candy apple. 

Meanwhile, in the Hotel Scaryfornia, Peter and Tony paired up with Steve.  
Clint was left in charge of two teenagers, one of which wasn’t phased by anything. The other jumped at every creak in the floor.  
Ned yelped again as the lights flashed. A bellhop-zombie lurched forward, and MJ merely lifted an eyebrow. Going through the Hotel, Clint amused himself by poking Ned in the side now and again.

Shuri, having been abandoned by Natasha, was going on alone. The people didn’t scare her much, but the constant darkness did more than she’d admit. She sent a live video feed directly to T’Challa, so he could enjoy a little as well. She got through the maze so fast that she ended up right behind Clint, MJ and Ned. She put her finger to her lips and crept up on them.  
‘AAAAAARRRHGHGHGGHH!!’ She roared right in their ears.  
The effect was immediate: Clint immediately sprung into a protective stance, trying to defend Ned and MJ. Ned crouched on the floor and closed his eyes, and MJ, for some reason, just roared back. They came to their senses when they saw Shuri, bent over with giggles. From her palm, they could see a sand-sculpture of T’Challa, also bent over in silent laughter.  
‘You should have seen your face!’ Shuri said.

 

Peter, Steve and Tony did better than Clint, Ned and MJ had.  
Peter had yelped at sudden flashes of light, but that was mostly due to his heightened senses. Tony and Steve remained unfazed. Tony commented on the intricacy of the building, the mirror maze and the make-up of the actors, amusing himself greatly. Steve made slightly shocked comments now and then, as ‘Oh, gosh!’ As a scare-actor startled him. The Hotel gave him a lot of new ideas for drawings. He was musing on this as the lights went out.  
The only light in the room was the blinking light of the elevator, going down onto their level.  
_ding_  
The elevator opened, and out came a horrible spider-like creature with 9 legs and too many eyes. It ran towards them. Peter squeaked shrilly and jumped right up onto the ceiling. Tony attempted to use Steve as a human shield, while Steve tried to pick Tony up to throw him at the creature. A bright light flashed. A photograph.  
As Tony and Steve turned around each other, Peter saw the spider-creature waddle back into the elevator. Underneath the costume, a tail was wagging. A dog.  
Peter laughed, and dropped back onto the floor. Steve and Tony screamed at him, making Peter yell in fright as well. Steve finally got a hold on Tony and threw him bodily at Peter. The two fell sprawled over the floor, while Steve held up his fists, ready to fight.  
Tony and Peter scrambled up, and then it was every man for himself. They made a bee-line for the exit, stopping only once to scream shrilly at an undead bride. 

The picture of Clint’s group showed the three teenagers in a sort of frightened conga-line while Clint reached for an arrow that wasn’t there. He bought photos for him and the teens, even though Shuri was quite sure she had more money. 

The picture of Steve and Tony showed the two men grappling with each other while only Peter’s legs were visible as he jumped unto the ceiling.  
Bucky bought the photo of Steve and Tony trying to shield themselves from the creature. He liked to take it out sometimes and laugh. 

 

They went on to the Rock n Roller Coaster. Bruce and Bucky were sure they could handle that one, and the others were happy to go with them.  
Peter and Ned sat in the front. After them came Tony and Bruce. Then Bucky and Shuri, Steve and Clint. MJ and Natasha sat in the front of the third cart.. 

‘This is kind of nice!’ Bruce shouted at Tony as the ride started and the screen showed some funny traffic messages. Tony grinned at him. This was his personal favourite coaster.  
After the ride ended, Tony turned to Bruce. Tony was secretly happy to see that Bruce hadn’t gone even slightly green.  
‘That was awesome!’ Bruce said, grinning. ‘Can we go again?’  
‘Urp’ said MJ, who was looking slightly green. Natasha brought her outside to sit on a bench with some water. They watched the parade while the rest rode the Rock n Roller coaster two more times, and then went on to the bigger attractions, everyone pairing up with MJ to do something else instead. 

After a ride on Hyperspace Mountain, Peter had to sit down for a while. The bright lights did weird things with his senses. MJ knew how he felt. Rollercoasters were NOT her thing. She still sketched Peter for her blog, though. 

In the afternoon, Tony bought them all hot dogs and they had lunch. Various Agents of Shield came by and nodded at them, glad for the day off. In the distance, Natasha thought she could see Nick Fury queueing up for Splash Mountain.  
‘Feeling better, Pete?’ Tony asked him after a while. Peter, on his third hot dog, gave a thumbs-up.  
‘How about Pirates of the Caribbean, next?’ Tony asked the table.  
‘Sounds fun!’  
‘Sure!’  
‘Hell yeah!’ Clint said, pumping his fist in the air.  
‘Yup!’ Ned said with a wide grin, looking around at everything.  
‘Mh-hmm!’ Steve said, his mouth full with hotdog.  
Bucky just nodded.  
‘Sure, dad!’ Peter said. ‘Uh. Dad-dad.. daddy-o…’ he stuttered.  
‘Are you Back To The Future-ing me here, kid?’ Tony asked, raising his sunglasses.  
‘Did you just call Tony ‘Dad?’ Steve asked.  
‘I think he did!’ Natasha said, staring at Peter over her drink, eyes glinting.  
‘Tony’s got a _son_?’ Clint asked incredulously. ‘What does that make me? Uncle Clint?’  
‘You wish I was your brother, Katniss!’ Tony jeered at him.  
Peter got redder and redder.  
‘’M sorry’ He murmured to his plate.  
‘Do you see me as a father figure, Peter?’ Tony asked in a low voice.  
‘Oh, don’t go quoting Brooklyn Nine-nine on me now, da-Tony.’ Peter retorted, still staring down at his plate.  
‘Da-Tony? MJ asked. ‘Is that his DJ name?’  
‘It is now!’ Tony said, beaming.  
They all laughed, and the subject was dropped as a seagull came in and tried to steal Bucky’s fries.  
(Clint quickly took a picture of the seagull sitting on Bucky’s head for further blackmail purposes)

After Pirates of the Caribbean, the group rode Thunder Mountain, saw the dragon in the cave and did the Pinocchio ride. They all agreed that of all the rides, Pinocchio definitely came after the Hotel.  
‘Thing is freaky.’ Steve said, and the rest agreed.  
After dinner at the Auberge de Cendrillon, they hit the souvenir shops and then the hotel room. Natasha, Shuri, Bucky and MJ were all sporting Disney headbands, while Clint had made Tony wear a Lion King ‘World’s Best Dad’ cap. Tony didn’t take it off for the rest of the three days, much to Peter’s embarrassment. Peter and Ned wore Star-Wars caps, while Steve and Clint preferred to leave their head bare. Somehow they found some T-shirts in Steve’s size, much to his surprise.  
Tony spoke French fluently, Bruce could make himself known, and Natasha, Ned, Peter and MJ were proficient enough to order from the menu. Clint needed some help. Shuri kept accidentally switching to Xhosa. And to his complete astonishment, Bucky Barnes found that he could speak fluent French, though with a Russian accent. 

They eventually settled down in the Disney Hotel. To their surprise, Tony had arranged a room for everyone. No one had to share. They first assembled in Shuri’s room for a while (Her brother had gotten her an even bigger upgrade) and talked about the day while eating snacks. As all of the Avengers eventually went off to bed, they discovered a gift basket in their room, containing stuff from their favourite movies. Natasha didn’t know how Tony had found out that she liked Winnie The Pooh, but she couldn’t help but smile at the brightly coloured Tigger on her pillow.  
Bucky groaned a little when he saw the Elsa themed basket. He did sort of like the reindeer, though. It was very soft.  
Shuri phoned Tony up in his room, asking how in Bast’s name he knew about her love for Atlantis.  
‘I’ve seen your tech’ he answered. ‘No way that wasn’t inspired.’  
He would have known. Tony loved Atlantis, too.  
Clint laughed at the Merida toy bow-and-arrow set, but did play with it for most of the night.  
Steve had missed most of the Disney movies, but was trying to watch them all. Instead of guessing, Tony had simply given him access to the hotel room’s DVD list, and Steve spent some time watching Jungle Book and The Aristocats.  
MJ hugged her plush Stitch all night. She couldn’t help it, it was too cuddly.  
Bruce had opened his door to find his entire room in Lion King style. He sighed a little, but settled down on the warm bed quickly.  
Peter and Ned found Star Wars merchandise in their rooms, and had a brief lightsaber battle before bed.  
Before Peter went to sleep, he put Spider-Meow on his nightstand. Little did he know that Tony had brought Iron-Meow, too. Tony gazed at it as he turned off the lights. 

As they all drifted to sleep, they could still feel the rocking of the various rides in their bodies.  
It had been a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 495 KUDOS. Holy shit you guys, I am amazed. Here's a story I wanted to see myself, but I promise I'm going to get to your prompts as well!  
> The prompt of Peter calling Tony 'dad' is filled at least. Next time I'll sneak in Tony calling Peter 'Son' 
> 
> It's 02:07 in the morning when I post this, so I hope it's coherent and not Out Of Character. I don't even know anymore. What is sleep. 
> 
> Some notes:  
> -I chose Disneyland instead of Disney World, because I've actually BEEN to Disneyland.  
> -Natasha's 'прыгающие мыши' comment is a reference to a certain movie. Bonus points for the one that figures out which one.  
> -'Hotel Scaryfornia' is a made-up ride, since I really wanted a haunted house thing. But c'mon. That pun is amazing.  
> -Candy apples are the best.  
> -The Pinocchio ride is terrifying and I don't wanna go again. I love the dragon in the cave, he is my friend.  
> -Dad-dad-daddy-o is a legit Back to the Future reference. Back to the Future is awesome.  
> -This is the link to the fanfare. I listened to it for an hour trying to get it right. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-jGI2_nWtk  
> -Lots of thanks to my buddy Ciara, otherwise known as Shenanigaining, for making sense of my ridiculousness, and having me write Tony better. Ciara is cool.  
> -If this is popular, I might do another chapter. If it isn't, next chapter will be something about May and her finding Spider-Meow. Or something. I don't know  
> -I'm tired.
> 
>  
> 
> Okay, thank you all! I love you to bits!  
> Goodnight!


	8. Disneyland: Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know where all these chapters are going, but they sure are fun to write!

Breakfast was served from half past eight to ten. And for a group of not-entirely-functioning people, the Avengers all made it in time. By the time Clint and Bucky came downstairs, the rest of them were still eating. Clint loaded up his plate with waffles, while Bucky meandered over to the croissants. He, Peter and Steve had to eat for multiple people, as their metabolisms required.

’So, Cap'n.’ MJ asked, chewing her own breakfast. ‘Who’s protecting the earth now that you’re all in Disneyland.’  
To her surprise, it was Shuri who answered.  
‘The Dora Milaje. They’re an elite group of women trained to protect the King of Wakanda. They’ve got this.’ she told MJ, eating another bite of her cinnamon roll. MJ nodded appreciatively.  
‘Plus, the US army is always around.’ Steve said.  
‘As I said. The Dora got this.’ Shuri said, smirking.  
‘Not all of them.’ Came a voice from behind her.

Shuri turned around, and her entire face lit up even more than it usually did.  
‘ _Ubhuti!_ ’ she called, as she launched herself at her brother. He caught her and hugged her tightly. When they parted, they acted out what seemed to be a secret handshake.  
T’Challa, King of Wakanda and Black Panther shook hands with all of them. He embraced Bucky, whom he considered as close as a subject as a Coloniser could be.  
‘Welcome, your majesty.’ Bucky said in broken Xhosa, showing the same respect as any Wakandan. T’Challa waved him away while Shuri giggled. (Shuri had, of course, convinced Bucky to do so)  
Then, T’Challa introduced them all to Okoye. ‘General of the Dora Milaje.’  
‘Will you be joining us, Okoye?’ Shuri asked eagerly. Okoye smiled down at her.  
‘Just don’t make me go on ‘A Small World’.’ She replied, fake-strict but serious.

T’Challa then greeted the interns as if they were part of the Avengers as well.  
‘MJ and Ned. Shuri has told me about you already. Do not worry, she said only good things.’ He told them, smiling and shaking their hands.

‘Tony has also told me you may be looking for a job in Wakanda after your internship, Michelle Jones. That can be arranged.’ T’Challa told her. Michelle looked flabbergasted and stuttered for the first time in her life as she replied that it would be an honour.

‘And you must be Peter Parker.’ T’Challa said, turning to Peter. ‘I’ve heard much about you.’  
‘Yes! Yes, that’s me!’ He said. He got a look from Okoye. He tried to correct himself. ‘I mean. Mr. Black Panther, your majesty, sir. I’ve wanted to say thank you for the video since… forever!’  
‘You’re very welcome. And T’Challa will do.’ T’Challa said, smiling at the newest Avenger, who blushed and nodded gratefully.

Once they had all gotten ready for the new day, the Avengers made their way once again into Disneyland. Natasha carrying a backpack and having her long red hair in a ponytail, underneath her Disneyland hairband. Shuri, Bucky and MJ also sported their headbands, while the others wore their various headgears. T’Challa and Shuri tried to playfully coerce Okoye into wearing something as well, but she told him the wig that one time had been quite enough, thank you very much.

The first ride they went on was the Indiana Jones ride, while Bruce and MJ opted for the slightly slower Pirates of the Caribbean ride again. They both had a large breakfast, and MJ found that one rollercoaster a day was enough. However, even while she did not enjoy the 360 rollercoasters, she still really liked the regular ones.  
‘The world is better staying in one place.’ she said and Bruce laughed.

Once the rest were done, Ned displayed a vague interest in the ‘Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters’ ride.  
‘IT’S SO COOL YOU GUYS! YOU GET TO SHOOT LASERS AND GET POINTS AND…’  
‘Are you telling me this is a LASER GAME?’ Clint asked.  
‘Yeah!!’ Ned answered.  
‘Nat. Barnes. We _need to do this laser game_. Settle this whole ‘Who is the Best Sniper Of Them All!’ Thing!’  
In the end, Bucky won 186, Clint got 188 and Natasha got 187.  
‘Best out of three?’ She asked. The others immediately agreed.  
The second round came in with Barnes at 254, Clint in 260 and Natasha at 240, ‘But I sneezed!’  
Before the third round, Shuri whispered into Tony’s ear. He grinned widely and nudged Ned, MJ and Peter to come with them.  
After the third round, Bucky came out with 316, Clint with 328, and Natasha with 316 as well. As they walked out, arguing, the three snipers got a text.  
‘500? HOW!’ Clint yelled at the world in general.  
‘Not gonna tell you.’ Shuri said. Tony shook his head. Peter simply laughed. When he tried to ask Ned or MJ, the first smiled at him and the second just cocked an eyebrow at her.

The group went over to the Pixar Studios, where Tony insisted to bring his Science Squad to the ‘Studio Tram’ ride. The rest just followed, joking about Tony adopting all these science kids.  
‘Not me!’ Shuri said, turning around at them and slinging an arm around her brother. ‘I’m all set.’ T’Challa cheerfully punched her shoulder.  
They rode the little train through the landscape while all the special effects showed off around them. While some effects were a bit mild, most of them were excited about the explosions and the water anyway.

Bucky practically dragged Steve unto the Parachute Drop, saying ‘This might teach you a lesson’.  
As they were tackled up, Bucky turned to Steve.  
‘Is this weird for you?’ He asked.  
‘Why?’ Steve replied.  
‘Because you’ve never used a parachute in your LIFE!’ Bucky yelled at him as they were dropped down.

Then MJ declared that The Tower Of Terror was the Best™ and that they had to do it. They queued up for the Tower, waiting for about 5 minutes until all of the SHIELD employees were through. They were strapped in to the seats. (‘This looks safe’ from Clint aside) and the ride started.  
‘I DIDN’T KNOW THIS WAS FROM THE TWILIGHT ZONE!’ Bruce yelled as they were hoisted up.  
‘Yeah! It’s cool!’ Peter, who sat next to him, yelled back.  
‘I MISSED THE TWILIGHT ZONE!’ Steve yelled from behind them. ‘SHOULD IT GO ON THE LIST?’  
‘YEAH! IT’S GOOD!’ Bucky yelled, and then the doors opened on the top of the building.  
They all shrieked in exhilaration as the elevator dropped them down again and for a minute, it seemed like the Hulk would be joining them after all. But the time Bruce spent in Asgard had made him rather immune to falling from great heights.   
‘You _need_ to put one of these in Stark Tower.’ Clint told Tony. Tony stroked his beard. Not a bad idea…

At lunch, Clint poked Tony in the side. Tony yelped.  
‘Tony. I have to know. How did you win the Buzz Lightyear thing?’ He asked, desperately.  
Tony just laughed. He looked over at Shuri, who nodded.  
‘We hacked the ride.’ Tony said. ‘That’s what _winners_ do.’

Then they did Crush's coaster, and the Ratatouille ride. Steve declared the second one to be his favourite.

After lunch, the group split up for a while. Peter and Ned were going to do some Star Wars rides, while Clint, Natasha and Bucky were enthusiastic to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride again, to try and see if they could win this time, now they knew the total available points.  
Tony took Bruce and Steve to the Aerosmith Rock ’n’ Roller coaster again, and Shuri, T’Challa and Okoye went around to ride some stuff they hadn’t gotten to in the previous day.

When they emerged from the Pinocchio ride, both Okoye and T’Challa handed 5 euro to Shuri. She had bet them that it was the scariest ride in the park, and they had disagreed, until they rode it.  
Tony had laughed his head off to see Bucky ride the carousel. He thought that would be the height of comedy. Until he saw the King and the Princess of Wakanda, and their personal bodyguard ride in the chariot on the carousel and waving royally to the astounded SHIELD employees, who could only wave sheepishly back. He quickly snapped a film on his phone before he went to some of the rides with Bruce, Peter and Ned.

 

During dinner, Peter was seated next to Tony.  
Feeling awkward, Peter cleared his throat. Then again.  
‘Come on, kid. Spit it out.’ Tony said.  
‘About yesterday, Tony… I…’  
‘You called me ‘Dad’ at lunch.’  
‘Yeah.’  
‘’S okay. Don’t worry about it, kid.’ Tony said, and from his tone Peter could hear that it was very much okay by Tony.  
‘Hey, Tony?’ He asked, changing the subject.  
‘Mhm?’  
‘Why d’you wear sunglasses indoors?’  
Tony lifted his glasses. He wondered why no one had asked him that before.  
‘Is it to look cool?’ Peter asked. Tony shook his head.  
‘These are prescription. And they help with colourblindness. Can’t cut the red wire if I don’t know what red is, right?’  
‘Oh, wow. How?’  
‘Son, I’m Tony Stark. These were one of my first pieces of tech.’ Tony said, tapping the glasses and taking them off for Peter to inspect.  
‘I bet Shuri can do better.’ Peter said teasingly, looking at the glasses.  
‘Hell yes she could.’ Tony answered, not a doubt in his mind.  
‘HELL YES I COULD!’ Shuri called from the other end of the table. Tony silently cursed tattle-tale Barnes and his super-hearing.

‘Tony?’ Tony turned to Peter.  
‘What?’  
‘You called me ‘son’.’ Peter said. Tony looked at him, one corner of his mouth lifting up.  
‘Yeah, kid. I did. Get used to it.’

There was a long silence. And then:  
‘Okay, Dad.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 560 kudos!!! YOU GUYS!! AAAHGHGH!!  
> This honestly makes me so ridiculously happy.  
> Maybe one day, I'll even have 600 kudos!! That would be SOMETHING!! 
> 
> Honestly, I'm not ENTIRELY happy with this chapter, so I might do something about it tomorrow or so, but also, keeping track of 12 characters is HARD. 
> 
> As you've probably noticed by now, this is not movie canon Clint Barton. I much prefer what I've seen of him in the comics, so he doesn't have a wife or kids, and he is Hard of Hearing.  
> He probably has the dog, though. 
> 
>  
> 
> Hey, quick question for all of you: Do you think these Disneyland chapters should stay in the Iron Meow story, or would you like to see them as separate chapters in an Iron Meow series?  
> Let me know! 
> 
> Thanks for reading as always!!


	9. Home Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disneyland is over, and everyone goes home.  
> A short chapter, so I can get this part over and done, and figure out what the hell to do with next chapters.

And all too soon, it was over. The Avengers and Interns piled into their respective cars, Shuri, Okoye and T’Challa got into their jet and all went home again.  
Peter, Ned and MJ fell asleep in the back seat of Tony’s car. MJ was still clutching her stuffed Stitch. Bruce sat talking softly with Tony in the front.  
Clint had claimed all of the backseat of Natasha’s car and was asleep, while Bucky helped her with navigation and Steve nodded off, his back to the door and Clint’s feet up on his lap. 

The flight back to New York was quiet, and even Tony got in a few hours of sleep, having borrowed MJ’s travel pillow.  
Back at the Compound, they found everything still in place. The Dora Milaje had protected New York, and a lieutenant named Khethiwe had written a short report declaring everything normal, apart from a weird zombie dog outbreak that had been vanquished as soon as a Dora could say ‘Spear’. Tony decided he would offer to send the Dora to Disneyland as well. (T’Challa already had).

Happy Hogan drove the Interns home, after they had said goodbye to everyone. MJ had even hugged Bruce, thanking him for waiting with her while the others went on the more aggressive roller coasters. She shot Peter and Ned a look that clearly meant that they would be mysteriously thrown off a bridge should they ever tell anyone that MJ hugged another human being. 

Aunt May was home when Peter entered. She hugged him tightly, and he presented her with a tea kettle and a mug, in the style of Alice in Wonderland. May was thrilled and wanted to know all of the stories. He told her everything he could remember, saving the little slip-up at lunch on the first day. 

When she came in his room to tell him goodnight, she saw the little Spider-Meow plush hanging upside-down from Peter’s bedside lamp. She picked it up and cooed at the small cat.  
‘Aaw! That’s a little cutie! Did you get this at Disney, too?’ She asked.  
‘No, actually. It was… It was a gift from… From a fan.’  
‘Tony gave it to you, didn’t he?’ Nothing could ever slip by Aunt May, Peter knew. It was as if she had a superpower, too.  
‘Yeah.’  
‘Did he remember?’  
‘Yeah! He’s still got it.’  
‘He’s a good man.’  
‘Yeah.’  
‘Goodnight, Peter. I’m glad you’re home.’ She said, kissing him on the forehead.  
‘G’night Aunt May. Me too.’ He said, pulling her in for a hug.  
Peter Parker fell asleep to Aunt May washing the dishes in the kitchen. 

Pepper hugged Tony tightly when he walked into his room, still wearing MJ’’s travel pillow around his neck. She kissed him, and he gave her a small Swarovski Beauty and the Beast rose. She smiled at it, knowing for sure she had never told Tony what her favourite Disney film was. He seemed to have guessed correctly. She put it on her nightstand, on her side of the bed they shared.  
Tony unpacked his suitcase, and flopped down on the soft memory foam on their emperor-size bed. (They used to have a king-size, but Tony stole the blankets and Pepper kicked him in her sleep)

Because he had already slept in the airplane, Tony naturally awoke at 4 AM. He poked Pepper to see if she wanted to wake up, too.  
‘Pep. Pep. I’ve got a really good new idea. Pep. I think we…’  
’Nnghbrglhrlll, Tony… Noooooh. Tell it to Iron Meow…’ Pepper muttered, turning over and aiming a sleepy kick at Tony.  
Tony went pale.  
Iron Meow.  
‘Pepper, I have to go back to France. Now.’  
‘F’rgot something?’ Pepper muttered.  
‘Only the most important thing in my life.’ Tony said seriously, already telling FRIDAY to power up his fastest suit.  
‘But I’m right here, and Peter just got home…’ Pepper argued groggily, annoyed that Tony’s warmth had left the bed.  
‘Love you, Pep! Bye!’  
And with that, Tony was out of the room. 

A normal flight from New York to Paris takes approximately six hours and fifty-five minutes.  
Tony made it in three hours and eight minutes. 

Another four hours later (Tony had stopped for scones and tea in London), the engineer was nodding off on his soft memory foam bed, a small plush cat dressed as Iron Man clutched in his hand. Pepper smiled down at him and kissed her fiancee’s forehead.  
Tony Stark fell asleep to the sound of Pepper softly telling FRIDAY to turn down the lights. 

All was well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 650 Kudos!! AAahgh! I wish I could make all of you Iron Meows and Spider Meows and Hulcat and Thor, Cat of Thunpurrr and Catasha's and Nick Furries and Catain Americat and all of the other Avenger's cats! 
> 
> Thank you for reading, as always. And if you have a prompt for me, I'd love to hear it!


	10. Field Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and the Interns (they're beginning to sound like a band now) are taking a field trip.  
> If you've read any fanfic about this before, you know exactly where they're going:  
> Stark Industries.

‘Ok everyone, gather round. To the busses, come on. Flash, stop shoving. Michelle, don’t threaten Flash. Mary? Mary? Where’s your permission slip?’  
Peter Parker’s teacher was in over his head. The class at midtown high was going on a field trip, and he, Mr. Gonzales, was the only teacher present.  
‘Can’t believe we’re going to Stark Tower…’ Ned muttered to Peter and MJ.  
‘Can’t believe we’re going to go there, back to school and then take a bus back.’ MJ groaned.  
‘I don’t think Tony is going to behave either…’ Peter said under his breath.  
‘I can’t believe you nerds are still pretending to have an internship with Tony Stark.’ Flash said loudly, cutting in to their conversation.  
MJ glared at him. Then she deftly pulled off Flash’s trousers. Flash went red in the face, as the entire class laughed at his underpants.  
‘Flash, while I appreciate your Iron Man underwear, I’d rather you wore a belt next time.’ Mr. Gonzales said. ‘Michelle, detention tomorrow.’  
MJ stuck up her thumb. Worth it. And more time to draw people in distress.  
Flash pulled up his trousers, and the class filed into the bus.  
Ned and Peter stared in slight awe at MJ, who grinned at them.  
‘Barton wears loose trousers, too.’ was the only explanation she gave. 

Over at Stark Industries, Tony Stark himself was talking to a small plush cat as he worked on a suit that was powerful enough to go to outer space.  
‘Why do they even send my interns to here? Doesn’t make sense. DUM-E, hand me a screwdriver, number… eight. Thanks pal. No, no. No, in my hand. Do my toes look like they need a screwdriver? No they don’t. In my hand. Here. Here. Good.’  
‘What was that, Iron Meow? Hey, good idea. I could let the _interns_ do the tour… Be a good learning opportunity. FRIDAY, have someone clear out all the Spidey stuff from the kids labs.’  
‘You got it, boss.’ FRIDAY said. ‘May I suggest putting away the Iron Spider suit, too?’  
‘Yeah, good idea.’ It would be clever to put it away before the kid saw it. It was supposed to be a secret, anyway. ‘Wonder when they’ll be here…’ Tony mused.  
‘Estimated Arrival Time of Peter and the Interns at 9:30 AM.’ Friday said. Heh. Those kids were beginning to sound like a band, Tony mused. He might make it happen one day. DJ Da-Tony, with Peter and the Interns. Maybe at the next Stark Expo. He filed this thought away for later and answered FRIDAY.  
‘Oh, goodie. Let’s finish this, then. U, are you getting this? Good.’  
Tony Stark disappeared back into the suit. 

Natasha, Bucky, Steve and Clint were sparring. After their trip to Disneyland, they had gotten inspired for some new moves and were trying them out. So far, they all worked really well. Dodge, kick, hit, dodge, dodge… SLAM.  
‘Nice.’ Clint commented as he let loose an arrow without looking which one.  
Something exploded.  
‘Less nice.’ Clint noted. Bucky cuffed him on the back of his head.  
‘Idiot.’ He said.  
In response, Clint vaulted over him the way a child vaults over a rock in the park.  
While Clint was in mid-air, Bucky pulled down Clint’s trousers. Clint fell on his face on the soft mat, his ass in the air.  
‘Cool underwear.’ Bucky noted.  
Natasha grinned. She couldn’t believe Clint had found actual Black Widow underpants.  
Steve went out to buy some.

May Parker was vacuuming the floor in her and her nephew’s apartment. She came upon Spider Meow, hanging upside down from Peter’s nightstand. She smiled, and put it upside-down on his ceiling instead. She dug out an empty bag of nacho cheese Doritos and attempted to feed it to the vacuum. The vacuum didn’t like it. May muttered something about having Stark make her a new vacuum.  
When she was done hoovering the floor, she mopped it and sat on her bed so it could dry without tracking muddy footprints all over it. She realised too late that she had left her phone in the other room.  
She opened her own bedside cabinet out of pure boredom and was happily surprised to see a large Mars bar lying there. Her nephew was the best nephew, she thought, as she ate it. 

Over in Africa, in the kingdom of Wakanda, a young teenage girl was trying to get her brother to sit in a large box. Her brother’s fiancee sat on a ridge and watched, with a smile on her face.  
‘Come on, _ubhuti_ it will be cool!’ Shuri told her brother, holding up her phone to take a picture.  
‘It is undignified.’ T’Challa said.  
‘Please?’ Said Shuri.  
T’Challa planted his feet more firmly on the floor. ‘No.’  
‘Please?’ Said Nakia.  
T’Challa sat in the box.

Up in space, the ISS got a strange call. An astronaut floated over to see what it was, but the computer dismissed it as false alarm. This story is not about them. 

A few light years away from the Space Station, around Alpha Centauri, a man commonly known as Bruce Banner and more commonly known as ‘an enormous green rage monster’ was taking a nap. A god of mischief and a god of thunder were having what almost resembled an ordinary conversation. 

A few light years further, a group of assholes and their teenage giant plant were almost caught up with an old enemy. Their spaceship nudged a small piece of rock, which flew into Earth’s orbit and caused quite a lot of trouble for a young woman. But this story is not about her either. 

Way back on Earth, Peter Parker sat in his school bus, listening to some music, his eyes closed.  
Suddenly, he felt a slight tingle down his spine. He opened his eyes and looked at his arm. All the hairs were raised up.  
When he looked outside, he saw a giant spinning red and orange wheel in the sky. 

The Infinity War had begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am watching Infinity War tomorrow and I. Am. Not. Ready.  
> Anyway, if Infinity War is satisfactory and I like it, this fic will continue as if Infinity War happened. (Though I may still be glossing over the existence of Clint's family, Wanda and Vision.)  
> If I don't like it... Well. There is always fanfiction. ;)


	11. Breeze **INFINITY WAR SPOILERS**

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS FOR INFINITY WAR! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT, DON'T READ IT!

And just like that, it ended.  
Old friends reached for one another as half the universe crumbled into dust. Friends didn’t have time to say goodbye. On a school bus in New York, Ned and MJ hugged each other as Ned was blown away by the soft breeze. MJ begged for the breeze to take her, too. Ned and Peter were the only friends she had. The breeze didn’t answer.  
In Queens, May Parker scratched her neck and found that her hand had gone up in ash. She stared at it. A corner of her mind that wasn’t panicking told her in a giggly voice that she’d have to vacuum again.

In Wakanda, A soft wind blew over the fields. Steve sought for Bucky as Okoye sung over the loss of her king. Shuri didn’t even realise yet. The wind hadn’t touched her.  
Clint and Natasha found one another across the battlefield, and Bruce ran up to meet them. They clutched one another arms, and looked each other frantically in the eyes, hoping, praying to the breeze. They were spared.  
Thor raged his defiance against the wind. And through something, call it Old Magic, or simple laws, the breeze blew past him.  
Vision crumbled. Wanda begged the breeze to take her, too.  
The breeze consented.

Lightyears above his home planet, Tony Stark cradled Peter in his arms as the ashes of his newfound friends floated around them. The Guardians of the Galaxy were no more. The breeze had taken them. It should have been Tony. But all his visions showed it: Tony, on the ground, the ashes of his friends scattered below him.  
Tony Stark, the only survivor. The man who survived, but never truly lived.  
_I couldn’t even take them to Disneyland_ Tony thought vaguely, looking down at Peter, who was staring up with him, tears in his eyes. _Please. Not the kid. Not my kid. Please._  
‘Please. I don’t want to go.’ Peter begged. And just like that, he did. All of Peter crumbled into ash and was scattered to the ground in the breeze. His ashes whirled slightly, a reminder of the bright boy. Then they lay still.  
Tony felt something small drop into his lap. No, it didn’t. It stuck to his sleeve.  
He knew exactly what it was. Peter must have had it in a pouch on his suit. He felt the weight of his own inside his boot.  
Still, he couldn’t help but look. And when he did, Tony Stark clutched the plush kitten named Spider-Meow to his face. Then he lay down on the ground and cried.

\--------

 ‘No.’ A metallic female voice sounded near Tony. FRIDAY?  
‘Who the fuck is Friday?’ The voice said. Not FRIDAY, then. And in any case, Tony didn’t care.  
‘My entire family is dead, too, asshole. Don’t see me sobbing like a newborn.’ This voice was mean.  
‘Get. Up.’  
And for some reason, Tony did.  
A blue, seemingly female alien made out of machinery stared down at him. Far in his mind, Tony recognised the immense detail that had gotten into the woman. The voice of a boy, younger than he was now, echoed in his mind.  
_’You’re the mechanic, right? So build something._. Sorry, Harley. I can’t build my son home.  
‘Oh, you’re up. Great. How do we get off this hells cape?’ The blue machinery alien asked him. Tony didn’t want to leave. Peter was here. Peter should be here.  
‘The kid is gone. So is my sister. How. Do. We. Get. Out.’  
There was only one answer. There could only ever be one answer.  
’Thor…’ Tony muttered, before he collapsed into the ash and dirt on Titan, still clutching Spider-Meow. Nebula groaned. Why couldn’t she get a different idiot to live? What kind of answer was _thor_? Was that the name of this morons spaceship?

  
Right then, a rainbow crashed into the planet. An enormous man stepped out. It wasn’t Thanos. In fact, everything about the man screamed _Asgard_. Nebula groaned.  
First Thanos, and now _this shit_. That idiot Kraglin had been right. She should have gone for a nice hat.  
Thor nodded politely at Nebula, then turned to Tony.  
’I heard you, brother.’ Thor murmured to him. ‘Come. The others are waiting.’

  
As Thor lifted him, Tony felt the object in his boot slide out.  
_Maybe he’ll come back for it. For me._ he thought, as Iron Meow thudded softly to the ground. _He can give it back then. And if not… Well._ Tony thought, as Thor held him, bridal style. Nebula put a hand on Thor’s shoulder, and Thor lifted Stormbreaker, his ax. If this had been a more joyous occasion, Tony would have thought that _this_ was the best roller coaster of them all.

\--------

‘TONY!’ Bruce yelled as he threw himself at his best friend. Soon, Tony was surrounded by the remaining Avengers. Steve, Rhodey, Rocket, Clint. Rocket. A short group hug was held, before Shuri stormed out of the palace and broke them apart.  
‘ _Uphi umntakwethu?_ ’ she yelled. ‘Where is my brother!? T’Challa! T’Challa!’ M’Baku held her tight as Shuri sobbed. The others didn’t know, but Shuri’s mother had vanished as well.  
Nebula looked to Rocket and shook her head. Rocket sniffed exactly once, then walked over to Thor. He pressed his head against Thor’s leg. Thor petted him.  
‘It will be all right, rabbit.’ Thor told him. Rocket wished he could hear that Thor believed it himself.

‘Tony?’ Bruce asked. ‘Is Peter…’  
Tony could only shake his head. Natasha dropped to her knees.

Across the universe, the worlds grieved. There was too much death. Too much sadness. It was as if all of the suns in all of the universe had been dimmed. On every planet, the sky was grey. But there was no rain.  
There didn’t need to be, for all the tears in all the universe was enough to water the ground.  
Animals and pets grieved for their litters, for owners who didn’t come home. All of the remaining dogs on Earth started to howl. Cats either went silent and crept away or yowled their vengeance to the skies.  
Bees buzzed louder as they grieved for their queens, for the workers that had vanished. And it took them a while, but even the trees wept for their loss of squirrels and ants. And for a small tree that had died on the same planet they were on right now.  
Strange, hive-minded organisms on planets no one had been to linked up with each other again. They spoke. They grieved. They raged.

  
On a planet called Stonian, a small grey, gargoyle-like creature looked angrily up to what it thought was its parent. And without knowing it, it asked the question that was on the mind of everyone in the entire universe.  
‘Who do we fight?’

The answer was clear immediately. In every world, in every language, the answer was clear. A name to start a war. A challenge.  
A reminder to the victor that whatever just had happened: _We aren’t dead yet._  
Across the universe, everything that lived called out the name:

  
‘ ** _THANOS!!!_** ’


	12. Rain **INFINITY WAR SPOILERS**

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Infinity War! If you haven't seen it, don't read it!!

But Thanos was nowhere to be found. Not on any planet. But in a different dimension, far in the corner of an Infinity stone, the Mad Titan had a conversation with one he always thought of as his daughter. He didn’t care about the fate of the world. His job was done. He had saved the universe. He didn’t feel the tension in the air, didn’t feel the despair of the universe itself. Didn’t feel the rage of the billions of creatures across its planets. He relaxed.

But so much anger directed to one particular individual has to go somewhere.  
And it did.  
Put a piece of grit inside a shell, it becomes a pearl.  
When you put enough pressure on carbon, it becomes a diamond.  
And when all of the remaining galaxy cries for justice, what else can the stars do but respond?

Light years away from Earth, the biggest star in the universe that was named VY Canis Majoris by a Terran scientist, stopped expanding. Instead, if you could look at it with your naked eye, you'd see it had started to shrink.  
And shrink.  
And shrink.  
From its blinding, compressed light, a bright spark flared and a pure white stone burst from the heart of the compressed star.  
The stone wondered what to call itself.  
Then the stone wondered why the hell it wondered that.  
Of course it already had a name.  
The Heart Stone sent out a pulse throughout the multiverse.

And far away, in a distant set of dimensions, a single _THUMP_ was heard from the other half of the universe as their hearts started up again at the same time. But none of them moved.  
None of them moved, except from a wizard from Earth, a Doctor.  
He opened his eyes, looked at the confused, frozen, frightened faces around him and turned up a corner of his mouth.  
_Ah, Number 1400605._ he said in his head. _Nice to meet you. I’m Doctor Strange. Let’s bargain._ he thought to the dimension while he slipped a ring from his pocket and got to work.

Back on Earth, a woman’s phone _bloop_ -ed. A text from an unknown number. While she was looking at the call, her entire brain went _bloop_ , as if she had received a text in her head. She carefully searched her brain for the mind-text. Then she grinned, and got to work. Always nice to have allies. So while Doctor Strange tore at one end of the dimension, Captain Marvel raged at the other.

The pulses of the Heart Stone rang through all the hearts in the multiverse. If you had asked any music fan what it felt like, it felt like standing too close to the speakers and feeling the thrum of the bass.

And as with loud music, all the glass in the multiverse exploded into tiny glitters. All the windows in all the cities and villages broke. Deep in the forest, The Infinity Stones that were set in the gauntlet cracked, and started to leak. The aether that was the Reality Stone leaked out. It playfully pushed at a different dimension, then retreated to a far corner of the universe where it was forever dark. The Soul Stone split open long enough to release a green-skinned child, and then closed again forever. The exchanged had been paid. The child knelt on the forest floor and seemed to age rapidly until she was a green-skinned woman. The woman fainted. The Time Stone took a look around and put itself in an active volcano at the beginning of time.  
The Mind-, Space- and Power Stones simply gave up and shattered.

The glassy substance separating half the universe from the other cracked under the sheer pressure of an Infinity Stone and of two superheroes breaking it apart.  
The Heart Stone pulsed again. Its job was almost done.  
One more pulse...  
_THUMP_  
And with that _THUMP_ , the clouds burst open and it started to rain.

It fell on every planet, even the desert ones. It poured through windows and in sewers. It ran through brooks and fields and through planets that never saw a cloud.  
It wetted the hair of the living, and it turned the ash of the disintegrated into slight puddles on the ground...

 

Okoye shrieked for the first time in her life as her king, the ruler of Wakanda, King T’Challa, son of King T’Chaka, suddenly stood up behind her. As if…

‘As if you stepped out of the fucking shadow! Man, am I glad to see you!’ Clint told Sam. ‘Bird bros for life!’ He said slightly hysterical before hugging his friend. Rhodey crashed into them andShuri ran over to her brother and clutched him as if she would never let go.

Back in New York:  
‘-FUCKER’ Nick Fury finished his sentence, and immediately clamped his hand in front of his mouth as he saw the entirety of a school bus full of high school kids in front of him.  
Ned sneezed. MJ shrieked happily and hugged him tight.  
In Queens, May Parker got up from the carpet and sighed. She would have to vacuum and mop again.

In Wakanda, a few feet away from Shuri, a confused man stepped out of the treeline. Steve Rogers squinted through the rain.  
‘Bucky?’  
‘Who the hell is Buck- No, Steve! Steve, I’m messin’ with you! Ow! OW! Don’t hit me, you punk!’

Pets wagged their tails and trotted happily towards their owners and litters. Dogs licked faces and cats turned over to show their bellies. Rabbits hopped happily, and bees celebrated the return of their queens and workers.  
A tree got a pleasant surprise as its friend plopped up again near him. It took him a few minutes to realise it, though. Trees are slow.

Wanda took a longer time to come back. The other world held no memory of Vision, and she was hesitant to deal with the grief.

But Rocket hugged Groot and promised him never to say anything about his video game again. Nebula ran over to them, too, and hugged someone apart form her sister for the first time in her life.  
‘I am Groot.’  
‘Yeah, yeah. Me, too, pal. Let’s get our morons back.’

 

After hugging their returned friends, Tony, Rocket and Groot looked for Thor.  
‘Point Break. Get me back to Titan. I think I left something.’ Tony told him. He, Rocket and Groot held on as Thor summoned the bridge.

The rainbow bridge named the Bifrost hit Titan, right next to a confused looking teenager holding up a small plush kitten. The teen yelped loudly and jumped, floated down and landed on his butt. The bearded man next to him raised his arms in a defensive mode. But the teen visibly relaxed when he saw who had arrived.  
‘Oh, hey, Tony. Did you leave this here?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not good at battles, but I am good at endings. I hope this is an ending that is alright with you. 
> 
> Thanos is trapped in the Soul Stone, which is probably going to get destroyed.
> 
> I can't believe how far I've come with this fic. For some reason, this started out as a one-shot depicting a kid and his surrogate dad, and it turned out in war.   
> Who knows where we'll end up next!! 
> 
> In the meanwhile, thank you so so much for reading and commenting and giving Kudos and everything you do. I wouldn't be writing if it wasn't for you all.   
> I love you all. I hope you keep on doing what you're doing.   
> And if times are bad, just wait for the rain. ;)


	13. Aftermath **INFINITY WAR SPOILERS**

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war is over.  
> Does anyone want shawarma?  
> No. Let's just go home

While the Guardians of the Galaxy held their own reunion, which mostly consisted of them standing around in a circle, shuffling their feet and muttering insults to each other, Tony knelt next to Peter. He couldn’t believe the teen was back. He needed to make sure. He gently placed a hand to Peter’s face. Not to the suit, since that could have been a dream.  
To his face.  
‘Hey, kid.’ He said.  
‘Hey.’ Peter said hoarsely, and then collapsed into his mentor’s arms and sobbed.  
Tony just held him. Over Peter’s head, he looked at Strange.  
‘I don’t know what you did, but… thank you.’  
Strange just nodded and smiled weakly. He was exhausted, and ready for a long nap.  
Tony and Nebula met each others eyes over the battlefield of Titan, and they shared a curt nod of respect. It was enough.  
‘Tony?’ Peter asked in a teary voice.  
‘Yeah, kid?’  
‘I wanna go _home_.’ And with that blast to his heart, Tony was once again reminded how _young_ this boy was. He should have never let him fight. He should never have let him become an Avenger. The kid was sixteen. _sixteen_. _What did you do when you were sixteen?_ a voice in his head said. It sounded like a mix of his therapist and Pepper. Oh god. Pepper.  
‘Yeah, Peter. Let’s go home. Thor?’  
Thor nodded to him, and put up one finger. ‘One moment, please.’ He said. Tony held Peter tighter.

‘Goodbye, rabbit. Tree.’ Thor said to Rocket and Groot.  
‘Goodbye, angel-pirate’ Rocket said, wiping away a tear. Thor then knelt down to Rocket’s height and put a hand on his shoulder.  
‘Lead them well, captain.’ He said. Rocket took a step forward, and to the surprise of everyone, hugged the demigod. Thor hugged him back, and then put him down again.  
As the Guardians of the Galaxy left, Mantis holding Quill’s hand and weeping with him using her antennae, Groot made a flower grow in his hand and offered it to Thor, who accepted it and tucked it behind his ear.  
‘I am Groot.’ Thor said, holding up his axe. Groot smiled widely. Finally someone talked to him in his own language.

Then Thor turned to the three remaining men.  
‘Doctor. Can you walk?’ He asked Strange, who sat on the ground, exhausted. As if in response, Strange’s Cloak lifted him up gently. Thor nodded.  
‘Can you walk, Peter?’ He asked the spiderling still resting in his mentor’s arms. Peter tried to stand up, but his legs gave out.  
‘I’ll carry him.’ Tony said, but found that the wound in his side was too deep to carry the teen.  
Thor simply picked Peter up and stuck him to his back. Then he picked up Tony and lifted his axe, while Strange’s Cloak hovered nearby, close enough for Strange to grab Thor’s wrist.

The Bifrost took them to the Sanctum in New York, where Wong was trying to mop up the water. They left Strange in his care. Then Thor took Peter and Tony to Queens.

May Parker was staring at a wall. She knew she had to vacuum and probably do something about the broken windows, but she just couldn’t process what had happened. She barely looked up when she saw the Bifrost cut through her ceiling, but stood up immediately when she saw who it had brought.  
‘PETER! Oh my god, my boy! Peter!’ She said when Peter faintly stepped off of Thor’s back and fell into her arms.  
‘May’ he coughed, and hugged her. Tony looked around the apartment. At the broken windows and at the flecks of ash still on May’s face. He had hurt this woman, too. He had hurt a lot of people.  
And yet May looked over to him the same way Tony had looked over at Strange on Titan. Tony could only look back at her. He realised she looked every inch like a mother. Then she looked over at Thor and then back at Tony again.  
‘You brought him back.’ She stated.  
Tony nodded. He walked over and brushed some hair off Peter’s forehead. Peter looked up at him.  
‘Hey.’ Tony said. He reached into his boot and pulled out Spider-Meow. He gave it to Peter, who clutched it immediately.  
‘Thank you.’ He said simply. ‘I think I’d like a nap now?’ Peter said, and promptly fell asleep. May struggled to keep him up, and then simply lay him on the floor. Then she lay next to him and fell asleep as well.

None of them knew, but half of the universe has just done the same. Half of the universe lay down and slept, the Heart Stone watching over them all.

  
Thor put a hand on Peter’s forehead.  
‘They’re healing.’ He stated. Tony didn’t ask how he knew that.  
With some heavy lifting (mostly done by Thor) Peter and May were settled together on May’s bed. Tony stuck Spider-Meow on the nightstand. Thor put a blanket over them.  
Then, he put his hand on Tony’s shoulder, and without asking, brought him exactly where he wanted to be.

She was seeking shelter under a tree, her strawberry blonde hair wet and dripping. There were no traces of ash on her face. The breeze had spared her. And who better?  
‘Pepper.’ He said, coming up behind her.  
‘TONY!’ She cried, hugging him tightly and sobbing into his shoulder.  
And the dams that Tony had been building up for his entire life, broke. He wept into Pepper’s hair, his tears joining the rain.

‘Pepper, I don’t think I want to fight anymore.’


	14. Epilogue: In The Summer Sun

Years pass. Spider-Man grows. And his own Avengers with him.  
One day when Peter Parker is webbing over Queens in pursuit of a villain, followed by the police, he comes over a small terrace in the middle of the city. An older man in a remarkably nice suit and his wife with strawberry blonde hair that’s only slightly tinted with grey are sitting peacefully in the summer sun. They are holding hands, upon which their wedding bands gleam. The man grins when he sees Spider-Man web over. He takes a bread roll from the table and holds it up over his head. Spider-Man grabs it as he swings past.  
‘Thanks, Tony!’ Spider-Man says.  
‘You’re welcome, kid!’ Tony Stark calls back.  
It had been nine years ago since the Infinity War ended and Tony Stark retired from being Iron Man. And it had been three years since the nightmares had stopped. Iron Meow still sits on his nightstand, but Tony doesn't have to talk to him about nightmares. He doesn't have to fight anymore.

A few blocks away from the terrace, Spider-Man catches up with the villain and delivers him to the police. Then he sits down on a ledge and enjoys the bread roll in the warm light.  
The world is not calm. There is no world peace. Wars are fought, villains rise and heroes to meet them. Heroes die, or quit, or just simply vanish. New heroes take up their mantles and keep on fighting.

But for Tony Stark, this summers day was the most beautiful he had ever seen. The sun reflects on Pepper's hair. It washes the tables on the terrace in golden-orange light. It glints off wine glasses and makes the cutlery shine. Food gets delivered, and the waitress squints a little into the light. Tony grins down at his carpaccio and takes up his knife and fork. He doesn't notice it, but on that terrace in the summer sun, for the first time in his life, the constant mess of sounds and ideas in his brain grow still.

All is well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's it. On the 7th of May, at 1:16 in the morning, Iron Meow is finished.  
> I planned to have another Fanmail Day, maybe send Thor, Bucky and Rocket to a zoo, or have Valkyrie camp out on Hawkeye's couch for an entire chapter. Thor gives the best hugs and I need to prove it in writing and I want Tony and Shuri to help Nebula with her machinery, so it won't hurt her anymore.  
> But the story ended itself.  
> I feel bittersweet, but also like this should be happening.  
> Some stories are over. 
> 
> This doesn't mean I'll stop writing about these characters. Peter will still receive mentorship and love from all the Avengers.  
> Gamora is still passed out under a bush in Wakanda somewhere. I'll probably need to fix that and send her home.  
> Also Thanos is trapped in the Soul Stone. And there's a brand new stone up in space somewhere.  
> I should probably do something about that, at one point...
> 
> All those stories and more will continue in 'Iron Meow, A Tale Of Two Kitties', the series for this fanfic.  
> Keep an eye on that one, if you like. I'll put all of my Marvel stories in there, since they're all pretty similar.   
> If you wanna come talk to me, I'd love to have your company on Tumblr:  
> sleepingreader.tumblr.com
> 
> Until then, my dear readers:
> 
> Goodnight.


End file.
